ICS Estudos e Relatórios Nº1 / 2019

ICS E S T U D O S e R E L A T Ó R I O S 2019 2. Management of urban health and wellbeing under climate change could benefit from aligning with the aims and objectives of major UN agreements. Part 3: A "Health-Centred" Science-Policy Interface Prof. Anthony Capon, inaugural Professor of Planetary Health - University of Sydney “In implementing a systems approach, it is essential to invest effort in understanding the local context, including the decision making culture, process, and power relations.” The importance of culture In achieving a health-centred science/policy interface, we are not proposing a singular approach. There is no single model for a sustainable and healthy city. Cities should reflect their unique histories, geographies, economics, politics, spirituality, and cultures. In implementing a systems approach, it is essential to invest effort in understanding the local context, including the decision-making culture, process, and power relations. Ultimately, transformations to sustainable and healthy cities will require cultural transformations. One prerequisite for transformation is to imagine different ways of living, for example, to imagine a city with improved conditions for walking and cycling as Copenhagen did in the 1970s. Some decades later, the physical structure of the Copenhagen transport system has changed, and it is now a leading example of a healthy and sustainable urban mobility culture. A note of caution about the term ‘systems’ in everyday communication When used in everyday conversation (rather than in an academic context), the term 'systems,' and indeed the terms 'complexity' and 'uncertainty,' can sometimes cause people to switch off. In communicating about systems approaches to city officials and other decision-makers, we need to be able to boil down our messages to the kind of statement that an elected official can make to the media at a doorstop interview. As an alternative to 'using systems approaches,' other framings that may be useful are 'working across portfolios,' 'avoiding silo thinking, 'using integrative approaches' and finding 'Win-Win-Win' strategies. In this context, it can be useful to illustrate the value of systems approaches through practical examples.